Congress funds $150 million for new heat-from-earth research through 2031.
H.R. 8790 — Next-Generation Geothermal Research and Development Act · Filed by Pat Harrigan (R-NC) · 1 cosponsor · Introduced May 13, 2026 · Passed chamber
Your members of Congress
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What it does
The bill tells the Department of Energy to start a research program. It funds new types of heat-from-earth power systems. The bill gives $150 million each year until 2031. The money pays for research, test projects, job training, and grants. The U.S. Geological Survey must check heat-from-earth potential four times per decade. It will check many places, including U.S. regions.
Who it affects
Power companies, schools, and research labs will get money to study new systems. Workers will get training for new jobs. People in U.S. regions may have new power choices.
One thing to notice
The bill requires companies to share data about underground rock from drilling. This shared data could help smaller companies and researchers, but drilling facts become public.
From the analysis of the bill text, linked under Primary records below.
Where it stands
1 cosponsor: 1 Democrats.
- May 13, 2026 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- May 13, 2026 — Referred to House Committee on Natural Resources and House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology · Congress.gov: “Referred to the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, and in addition to the Committee on Natural…”
- May 20, 2026 — Markup held in committee · Congress.gov: “Committee Consideration and Mark-up Session Held”
- May 20, 2026 — Reported out of committee · Congress.gov: “Ordered to be Reported (Amended) by Voice Vote”
- Jul 20, 2026 — Passed the House · Congress.gov: “On motion to suspend the rules and pass the bill, as amended Agreed to by voice vote. (text: CR H4667-4668)”
- Jul 20, 2026 — Floor vote scheduled · Congress.gov: “Mr. Babin moved to suspend the rules and pass the bill, as amended”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Money around this bill
5 groups reported lobbying about this bill. They filed 5 reports from Jun 2026 to Jun 2026.
Those reports show $17,640,000 in lobbying spending. Each report lists about 15 bills. So that money was not all for this bill.
More groups named this bill than 78% of bills with any report.
Pat Harrigan, who sponsored the bill, received $414,425 from PACs for the 2026 election.
- Chamber of Commerce of the U.S.A. — $16,950,000 in 1 report
- Cornell University — $360,000 in 1 report
- Salt River Project — $250,000 in 1 report
- Advanced Environmental Monitoring Holdings (aemh) — $60,000 in 1 report
- Placer County Water Agency — $20,000 in 1 report
Lobbying is legal. These reports show who lobbied about this bill, not what changed.
Words to know
- heat-from-earth power — Power made from heat deep inside the Earth.
- Department of Energy — The part of the U.S. government that handles power and fuel.
- U.S. Geological Survey — The part of the government that studies rocks and land.
- lobbying — Trying to influence lawmakers about a bill. Companies and groups pay people to do this.
- PACs — Groups that collect money and give it to candidates for office.
- sponsored — To sponsor a bill is to introduce it in Congress and put your name on it.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (14,991 characters) on Jun 3, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,778 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
Money — Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act filings whose specific-issue field names this bill for quarters ending Jun 2026 to Jun 2026. A filing's amount is reported whole beside the median number of bills a filing names; it is never divided across them. PAC receipts are FEC-reported contributions to the sponsor's candidate committee in the 2026 cycle.
As of — lobbying records through Jul 20, 2026 · page rendered 2026-11-01.
“Congress funds $150 million for new heat-from-earth research through 2031.” QuorumCivic. https://share.quorumcivic.app/bill/119/hr8790/simple Report an error
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